There is a lot to unpack when it comes to The New Mutants movie. Early reviews are calling it among the worst X-Men films, and considering I saw Dark Phoenix with my own eyeballs, I am hella curious as to what that means. From the colorism and racial ignorance from director Josh Boone in interviews, I can’t say I’m exactly shocked that the film he boasted about is crashing all around him. Added onto the fire is a currently circulating comment from New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod.
Bob McLeod, for those who may not know, is a comic book artist who co-created the New Mutants with writer Chris Claremont. New Mutants was noted for dealing with teen angst and also having a lot to do with mysticism, science fiction, and fantasy elements. The original line up was diverse ethnically have an Afro-Brazillian character (Sunspot), a Cheyenne Native American girl (Mirage), and a Vietnamese woman who was the original leader of the group (Karma). Slowly characters like Magik (Illyana Rasputin), joined the ranks.
McLeod’s statement about the movie started off with his excitement that characters he co-created and designed would be in a movie.
“I was very excited when I heard they were making a New Mutants movie,” he said. “I thought making it into a horror movie was perhaps an interesting idea, but not at all how the characters should be introduced to the public at large. But, hey, my characters in a movie! I never would have thought that would actually happen.”
And then the disappointments come through.
But then, I was disappointed when they didn’t give Dani braids, although I like Blu Hunt. I was disappointed when Rahne wasn’t a redhead with spiky hair, although I adore Maisie Williams. I was disappointed that Sam isn’t tall and gawky, although I do like Charlie Heaton. But mainly I was very disappointed that Roberto isn’t short and dark-skinned. Yet another example of Hollywood white-washing. There’s just no excuse. So basically, #JoshBoone erased everything I contributed to the way the characters look. And now, the movie has come out at last, and apparently they’ve credited someone named Bob Macleod as co-creator. They couldn’t even be bothered to check the spelling of my name sometime in the last three years. And that can’t be fixed. That will be on the movie forever. I think I’m done with this movie.
I am very glad that he brought up the whitewashing of Roberto, because it is so aggravating.
If the team behind New Mutants hasn’t already convinced you they don’t give a shit about the comics… Co-creator Bob McLeod’s name is misspelled in the final movie credits. pic.twitter.com/pLTkbIX3aQ
— Rosie “Striking is Cool” Knight (@RosieMarx) August 28, 2020
Everything about this effort from New Mutants just comes across as lazy and lacking in thought. Boone got a check to make this mess and according to reporting from Vulture, the movie just was never really coming together on a script level because what Fox wanted was not the film Boone wanted to make. What you get is a film that cares about the ego of its director rather than telling a story or honoring the source material.
Great trailer though.
(image: Disney)
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